Art Garfunkel: Get Gack Together
nowhere man
"I remember the day John Lennon died. I was busy recording my Scissors
Cut album in Criteria studios down in Miami. That night I was doing
vocals when the second engineer interrupted to tell me I have terrible
news to tell you.' After a long pause, i tried to carry on, and I
failed. I came back into the studio control room and said 'That's it
for tonight. I can't work. I can't speak. I don't know what to say.'
I knew John a little bit. He was unbelievably engaging. On one
occasion, after dinner at the Dakota, John pulled me into his bedroom.
So I'm sitting on the end of his bed and he says 'I want you to tell me
about your work with Paul Simon, because I understand that you have just
been in Nashville recording together.' We had just completed a song
called My Little Town. John went on: 'I'm getting calls from Paul and
he wants to know if I'm availabble for the recording. What should I
do?'
Can you imagine how I felt? Here was John lennon asking me for my
advice. I could have pinched myself at that moment, because it made me
realise in a flash: no wonder he captivated the whole friggin planet -
he's so commercial.
John knew what to say to me that was connected and human and real and
grounded and fascinating. That's what he did with the whole planet
earth. He was a hit record. John's very being was like a hit.
I said to him: 'John, I would do it. Put all personality aside and go
with the fun of the blend. Make music with somebody you have made a
sound with. A great pleasure is the thing to stick with.'
John didn't take my advice."